Codename Killer
by OkiDenshi
Summary: A name is your title, who you are, and what you do. When people hear it, you think either good things, bad things, or just plain weirdness. Though what happens if you've got two names, and you didn't even know it? More importantly, who is this Zeke everyone is talking about? Or is it best Ryou keeps his mouth shut about it? But Bakura needs to know… Warning: Lemon.Drama.Death.
1. Chapter 1

Codename Killer

Summary

A name is your title, who you are, and what you do. When people hear it, you think either good things, bad things, or just plain weirdness. Though what happens if you've got two names, and you didn't even know it? More importantly, who is this Zeke everyone is talking about? Or is it best Ryou keeps his mouth shut about it? But Bakura needs to know…

Ch. 1

One second. It takes that amount of time for change to commence. Oh, but how bitter sweet the change can be, and is. Ryou could not put up with it much longer, though. He hated everything about change.

Well, not _everything_.

It wasn't the difference in nature as the years past, or anything like that. Actually, he quite enjoyed this; a slow, simple flow, that allows space for a gradual change. That way, Ryou would not be bombarded with an iron ton worth of change.

And for the longest time, Ryou tried his best to avoid these sudden adjustments. Since he was young, the albino would always be one step ahead; studying the calendar of events, knowing how busy he'd be, and when he'd have time to spare. The boy became so good at knowing his and everyone else's lives, he began to predict how things would happen.

He'd awaken for school around 6:30 A.M., get dressed, comb his hair, eat a bit of cereal, and of to the bus stop it was. The ride to school was fifteen to twenty minutes, and every morning on Elk Street Ryou would spot Mrs. Benson walking her tannish wiener dog, chucky. He'd always wave hello and good-bye, not having anybody to talk to.

_But that's ok_, the student thought to himself. Ryou would just ease drop on the multiple convo's going on at once. That's how he knew things, all the latest gossip, who did what, how this happened. While he just sat there like a ghost. Silent and invisible. Though Ryou didn't mind; he preferred to be left all to his schedule.

Five busses parked behind Domino High, and at exactly 7:45 A.M. the doors would open and a swarm of teens would soon rummage through the hallways. Ryou would take the same flight of stairs to the second floor, traveling down to his locker.

And for every day, for 180 days a year, the boy never failed to stop and greet his first and best friend. Marik Ishtar was his name, a long haired dirty-blonde, with light lavender eyes that where always outlined in heavy mascara. He was highly tan, and seemed to be obsessed with the color purple, just a little too much. But that was fine with Ryou; he didn't care much.

Marik would always be un-packing his back pack when the paler boy came to say hi, and after a minute of simply talking, he'd move on to his own locker. The boy would arrive in home room around 7:53, and read either a thriller series, or maybe a romantic novel here and there, pretending all would go well.

Periods one, two, and three, Ryou did not mind. First was social studies, a subject most adored by the teen, and good grades where the result. Second was alright; but chemistry wasn't too compatible with his historic mind anyway. Though music was; third period is band practice, and the teen could maybe, in that forty-minute time frame, forget predicting how things would go down throughout the day.

It was probably the only time the boy didn't worry for the constantly ticking clock, especially with what the next two classes held.

Which was a hell of a game.

_Hell of a time too_, thought Ryou as he walked down the main hallway, goose bumps finding their way onto the boys flawless skin.

But it's not like anybody noticed, or cared too anyways. And Ryou learned to deal with that fact; it wasn't always like this, not in the beginning of the school year. The albino could talk to anyone he pleased without worrying about who cared, but then that pesky little thing called "change" happened, and since then, Ryou could only dream of the past and how much fun it all was.

Not anymore, though. Not _ever again_, would this boy not worry when he stepped foot into literature class, having his heart rate be a normal 76 beats per minute. Every day, Ryou would round the corner to the class room, expecting nothing but two things; rejection or exception.

And here it comes.

Ryou came into the brightly decorated room, seeing Marik Ishtar sitting at his desk and giggling about with Malik, another friend of the albinos. He walked up to the two boys, casually with a grin on his face, like he always did. Malik would greet Ryou with a hello, like he always did. Marik, however, could be different at times.

_Rejection or exception, rejection or exception_.

This was a question the white haired boy would ask in his head, waiting for a simple reply from the smaller of the tanned. "Hey, Ryou. How's your day so far?" Marik replied.

Ryou exhaled silently as the late bell had rung.

He would be friends another day. _Thank goodness…_

o.O.o

Oh, but that was only the beginning of the days worries for little Ryou Bakura. No, not about school work; he could much less care about that.

It was lunch time that always made the boys hairs stand on edge. This was also a hell of a game to get through, but somehow it usually went well.

Usually.

When Ryou would enter the already crowded cafeteria at around 12:03, he would spot Marik sitting at the table in the corner, where he always sits. Not that he sat alone. Actually, Marik sat with many people during lunch, like Yugi Muto, who always sat across from the blonde. Ryou would normally take a seat next to Marik, though sometimes Malik would find a way to take it before him. And he was fine when that would be the situation, and simply would sit next to Yugi.

It was all good.

Even when others would join the table, Ryou would find the human inside himself and say "Whatever makes you happy, I'm good with it."

It was the truth too. Ryou may hate change, but the slightest adjustment usually didn't bother him like a huge difference would.

But there was a difference. A difference that Ryou hated, hated so much that sometimes he wanted to cry about it. And every time, _every single time_, this person was brought up, Ryou would cry. In his imagination, at least.

"Hey, I wonder what's keeping Zeke so long to get here." Yugi piped with a smirk tugging at his lips. Marik smiled, as did Malik.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's in lunch detention." Said the smaller blonde, having the other two boys laugh at the joke.

Ryou didn't laugh. He found nothing funny in their little "Codename" game. It made him sick, _disgusted_ even, that his best of all friends would say something so mean. Especially when it was every day, in front of _his_ face…

Ryou watched from the corner of his eye, seeing the last of his friends approach the table.

"Hey guys, what's up?" greeted the one and only, Bakura Touzokuou, who happily took the open seat next to Malik. Said person leaned away, ever so slightly.

Ryou's stomach dropped, once _again_, seeing that not one of them replied to the other. All of their faces went blank and serious as the three other males ate like they regularly would. But then when Bakura's face would meet Ryou's, the smaller would always send a grin his way, making sure Marik would not take notice.

Though, thankfully, the silence, than only dragged out for about two to three minutes, would end with a random whisper by Yugi, who obviously was addressing something about _Zeke. _Ryou always knew when the others chattered about this particular person. It was _always_ in the form of a joke, too, a joke that _always_ made Marik laugh till his face turned red, even if the joke was made by him.

Of course, this "Zeke" was not all that the table talked about. They are _boys,_ and don't we all know how immature they can be.

They were a hysterical group, all six of them. Malik, Marik, and Yugi where always the ones who couldn't stop laughing. Especially Marik, who giggled at the slightest bit of humor. The taller of the tanned, Malik, with his highly spiked hair, had a perfect maniacal chuckle that light up the room. Yugi's was more silent, but still there in the jingle that was them.

Oh, but we can't forget about little Ryou. Yes, the albino does have a laugh inside of his quiet self, believe it or not. Actually, Ryou laughed typically every lunch period. Well, that was until _Zeke_ rolled around.

o.O.o

It wasn't till after Bakura had left the table to go to the bathroom, had the gossip of Zeke picked up again.

"Oh dear Ra, I thought he'd never leave!" Yugi sighed in relief, cupping his forehead as he leant an elbow onto the table. All but Ryou laughed at the comment. "But like seriously, what a loner! All he does is sit there like a shadow," the same boy spoke again. Ryou almost grimaced at his friend, but held it in.

Like _always._

"I think Zeke should just go die."

_…Marik?_

That's pretty much all that ran through the albino's mind, hearing such a terrible thing come from his number one buddy.

"Like, jump off a bridge or something,"

The three boys laughed. One remained sick in the stomach.

"Or a plane!" Yugi added in between a giggle.

"Goodbye! Have fun dancing with the devil!" Malik was the last to comment, having almost toppling over from the intense giggles that rang around the table.

All Ryou did was smile at the other boys, trying to find the humor. _How can anyone find this funny?_ The smallest boy thought, still having the lie of grinning.

The suddenly, Bakura had comeback, sitting down without much of a word.

Silence was given in a replace for the current giggles.

Ryou smirked in his mind. _They'll never really say it in front of his face…_ he said to himself, knowing that his friends wouldn't go _that_ far into the game.

Ryou was wrong.

"Looks like our hopes weren't so good with Zeke, huh Marik?" Yugi commented, having Malik chuckle under his breath and the said boy laugh like it was the end of the world.

It was too much for the albino to take, though. He had had enough of this game, and "being" a part of it. But when would Ryou finally have had enough, to do something about it?

When Bakura laughed, just the slightest, and then asked, "Who's Zeke?"

Marik was suffocated with his laughter, and so were the two other males. The buffer albino just stared with a confused smile, shaking his head at the people he called friends. They were insane friends, but friends.

Ryou wanted to cry, wanted to just blurt everything out right there. But if he did, he'd have no friends left.

So the teen devised a plan, all in his head. He would tell Bakura all the rules, in private so maybe Marik and the others would never find out.

Ryou knew who Zeke was.

But Zeke didn't.

* * *

**OD:** Hey guys! Yesh, i am starting another fanfic...horray! xD Well, not for those of you who are readin broken...yea, i am sooo not giving up on that story, but i NEED a break from it for a litte, so i decided to start this to keep you all happy for a while... don't worry, i WILL finnish broken, but its just such a long story and i needed a break, and this popped into my head a few months ago, so... Enjoy+R&R!

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Ryou kept a forward face as he walked beside a giggling Marik in the flustered hallway of Domino High, not paying much attention to him or the person he talked with, until the blonde noticed his tranced friend. "Hey Ry, smile once in a while, would you?" Said the boy joked, nudging him in the shoulder.

"Oh, sorry, I just have a lot on my mind…" Ryou grinned; He was a very good actor when it came to facial expressions.

But somehow, Marik saw through the albino's lying face, and frowned. He took a firm hold onto Ryou's wrist, and leant his face in close to his ear. "Don't say anything to anyone about Zeke, ok? What _he_ doesn't know won't hurt him."

The teen's heart stopped pounding as if struck by a bolt of energy. Negative energy, in this case.

Though Marik made little of his friend's hidden reaction, and simply let go of his hand and flashed a friendly grin towards Ryou before walking off to class, thinking all was good.

Heh…

All was changing, in Ryou's eyes. Poor kid couldn't let his hands settle from their shivering. All throughout the rest of the school day, the albino's hands shook every time he wrote on paper.

The teachers may have noticed this, they may have not.

Even if they did, Ryou didn't think that they would ask why.

Even if they did ask why, he'd say he was just cold.

And that would be the end of that.

o.O.o

When Ryou arrived at his empty home that evening, he was immediately hungry. Plopping his satchel onto the floor, the teen strolled into the cooking area, searching the cupboards with wondering eyes. He spotted where the ramen was kept, and opened the packaging.

In a mere few minutes, Ryou was given a nice simple dinner. He liked things like that, simple and easy. Sometimes the boy wished life was like that. Though that was ok with Ryou. It always was.

The boy sat down in the computer room, with his ramen of course, and proceeded to turn on the monitor. The boy typed in his password, and the home page was revealed. He opened the internet and went to where all the excitement lies.

Facebook.

Well, what did you expect? Ryou _is_ a high schooler who lives in the modern world; Of course he has a Facebook. It was how he kept up with everyone's lives, and also how he was always one step ahead.

Well, _almost_ always.

Today was certainty not the best of Ryou's life, having sudden changes appear from the mysterious nowhere that always gets in the way of things. But the albino lived to learn with it, simply getting better at keeping a schedule.

Hm, thought that might give you the suspicion of innocent Ryou being a Stalker.

Well…

Ryou didn't really care if he was or not.

He cared little for things, actually. Not that the boy didn't have a kind heart or such like so, but it was more like he just… never cheated, per say. It's like playing a board game; you may be pulling good cards, and getting to your final destination until– _WHAP_! The next card is a whammy, and you fall tumbling down the spaces all the way back to start. Ryou, however, would just deal with the fact, and move on like he had been before.

But Ryou hated whammies. It was a pesky little nickname for the word "change", and the creator knows how much the boy despises when that happens.

And the teen knew hate was a terrible emotion, one that gets the blood burning. That's why he tries to avoid this hatred he has towards change by avoiding it entirely. Or, at least trying to, anyways.

So, is Ryou a stalker, or simply playing his role in the game called life? Answers are one thing that isn't very clear in this lesson…

3:16 P.M.

Ryou read the time on the bottom right hand corner of the screen, knowing he stuck to his original time line. _At least that went normal today_, the teen thought to himself.

And so where the notifications. Marik would always arrive home before Ryou did, and would always tag him in a post, which summed up his day at school. Therefore, Ryou would see that little red bubble up in the corner, notifying him he's been tagged.

He clicked it. Sweat beaded up on his face as he read.

"_It's so rainy outside! Uhg, and all this homework. I don't understand this crap about quantum Physics, and neither does anyone who has a life, such as Ryou Bakura, Malik Ishtar, Yugi Moto, and a bunch of others, Miss Harris! I want the old teacher back; hate the new long term sub -_-"_

Ryou's fingers sat frozen on top the keyboard. Usually, Marik only tags his most closest friends, such as the ones listed, but… change happened.

It's not the first time Marik discluded people from a post, but now it became for frequent for this particular person.

The teen sighed, and thought back a year or so…

_It was freshman year, the first day into it, too. Ryou was shivering like he had hypothermia. Of course, this was high school, not middle school anymore. A new school means new people, new surroundings, new expectation's… and most of all change._

_Ryou was a bit prepared with a map he'd found off the internet, but it wasn't much of help when you're actually there with a swarm of people roaming around in different directions._

_That is until the lunch bell rang. It was easy to find the cafeteria, for most of the people just headed in that direction anyway. Talk about following the crowd…_

_Ryou was lucky enough to find his best friends, Marik and Malik, who were cousins. Ryou knew them well from childhood, for their fathers worked well on expositions, and this is another reason of how he later on meets Yugi Moto and his grandfather. _

_Though to the present time, the three are eating their lunches, babbling on about the huge differences and all that a normal teenager would talk about. But, then, this random taller boy that Ryou had never seen until now, sat down in front of him like he was all that and more. The albino frowned at the sudden arrival._

"_Hey, it's you again!" Marik greeted joyfully with a smile. _

_Uh oh. This was too much change for Ryou…_

_He blanked out from sight, and got lost in his own little world until the blonde beside him snapped at his face. "Ryou, hey, you ok?" the boy asked. Said person stared at him as if he were a different person, but then found the reality of the world. "Y-Yea, I'm ok." Marik shook his head sarcastically at his friend, and then turned to introduce the other. "Ryou, this is Bakura. He's in my science class this year."_

_Bakura greeted the Ryou, who looked oddly similar to himself, despite a deeper tone and sharper form. The smaller found his politeness, and said a hello as well. A few seconds of silence passed before a conversation was started._

_And there, Ryou was feeling pretty comfortable with this new Bakura person. He'd found out that he'd liked RPG's, a personal favorite of Ryou's. His other friends liked them as well, and that's probably why Marik was getting along with him._

_But did Ryou mind this newbie? Well, no, not really. Like I said before, Ryou may hate change, but there is such a thing as change for the better…_

That time… it was so long ago. Ryou missed it, missed it badly. They were such good friends, Bakura and Marik. At one point, Ryou was once afraid that Bakura had become Marik's new best buddy. But now… whatever the heck happened between them, was tearing Ryou apart.

The albino sighed deeply, and moved his mouse over to like his friend's update.

Ryou's eyes stung with freshening tears.

Bakura had already liked the status.

* * *

OD: Ok, so yea, i got that done for the people who want to read this *cough* FanimeGirlForever *cough, cough* and all those other invisible reveiwers out there who think they can hide behind their monitors... i can add you into the codename game if you want! trust me, its not a fun ame to play, i've done it before...

OD: One thing i forgot to mention: Marik= Hikari and Malik= Yami... it will always be that way in my fics. Marik is marik, not malik, his name is freaking marik, not malik, he was named marik not malik, there are many different ways i can say it. Marik is marik. Deal with it. Sorry, but that's how i roll on here... please R&R, this story can get confusing so i'd like feed back, and im writing this at 1:30 AM... night, jope u enjoy...

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

As the dreary days of December passed, so did the comments of Zeke grow meaner. It may have been a gradual change in their conversations at lunch, though it was still bugging the heck out of Ryou.

No...

No, bugging wasn't the right word for it anymore. A bug is simply an irritation that you could shoo away, never thinking or bothering for it ever again.

The situation was more like a poisonous cobra, piercing you through your very heart, strangling the ever living life from your lungs.

Then you die.

Simple as that.

Words are killers, killers that are so devious and evil that it was indeed killing Ryou Bakura…?

Well either way, the brain aching boy still was able to carry out that star bright smile in school hours. Even while he ate at lunch, the time of day ne now dreaded like it was hell. It was definitely similar, in the albino's mind.

The game was picking up where it was last left off on Thursday.

"Zeke the geek!" cheered Marik, cheeks as red as could be on his caramel skin. "That's what we'll call him!"

Ryou pretended to giggle with Yugi and Malik, eyes shifting to stare over at Bakura, who sat next to Malik. Malik was seated in front of Ryou and Yugi next to him, and Marik across from Yugi. This was the usual pattern for the five students, in which never changed much, unless complications in relationship where made…

Oh but how Ryou day dreamed of how it once was… though one must dream forward to make reality, yes?

Ryou didn't like reality too much though. Dreams where much sweeter than the harsh game called life.

But he got used to it real quickly, like all children do… right?

The boy sighed to himself, staring off into space. If he kept thinking things like this, he might not be able to think straight ever again.

"Hey Ryou?" questioned Malik. Said boy jerked to face the speaker, blinking a few times to remove the haze from his eyes. "You ready?"

The smaller boy looked down at the taller's lunch tray, seeing that it was clear of food and trashed with wrappers. Ryou nodded, collecting his trash to walk with Malik towards the garbage.

Why they walked together? Well, it was a nice trip for a one on one talk. Of course, that was only because the garbage cans where located all the way at the other end of the cafeteria, in which was ginormous in size.

"So did you finish the next level for Final Fantasy 13 yet? I hear it's as hard as it gets." Malik asked, breaking the silence that hovered about them.

"Uh, no not yet. I've been busy and haven't had much time to play any games lately." Ryou replied, even thought he had all the time in the world.

The tanned boy smirked suspiciously at him, knitting his brows. "How so?"

Goosebumps ran up the back of Ryou's neck, his eyes slightly widening in shock.

Since when has anybody wanted to know why you couldn't do something? Especially for Teens, the laziest age group known to man.

Though the boy was always one step ahead, even if just a quick thought proved him to be so. "Ya know, it's just the first semester tests and all are coming up soon, so I've been studying a lot."

Malik's face smoothed out, rolling his eyes a bit. "Should've guessed it. A plus student's do what he's gotta do."

The white haired boy smirked a little bit, just a little, as the two emptied their trash like so, and went back to the table.

Or, that would've happened if Ryou didn't make the possibly greatest mistake he's ever made.

The smaller had quickly grasped onto Malik's wrist, pulling him just outside the cafeteria and into the hallway. "Hey! Ry, what was that for–"

"Do you hate Zeke?"

Once the question was out there, it couldn't be taken back. Ryou knew that too well, even if his eyes where bulging and his face grew sweaty and read.

Malik stared plainly at the smaller, though obviously stunned by the question. Ryou was also good at reading faces, too good for normality anyway.

The tanned boy smirked and fake laughed after moments. "We both know I don't hate him."

The albino sighed heavily, trying his best to hide his relief. "Then why do you play that codename game and make jokes about him?" he asked, still confused.

Malik's eyelids dropped as his mouth gaped open a bit, not really sure of how to respond.

The response shocked Ryou.

"Because it makes Marik happy." The taller boy said like it was basic science.

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked, a little confused by the statement.

"I mean what I said. It makes Marik happy, so I just join in and try to make him laugh."

Ryou's eyes were ready to shrivel up because he hadn't blinked in so long. He knew Marik found the jokes to be funny, but he never knew they made him happy…?

Well, maybe that did make sense. If you're laughing, you've got to be happy… right?

And Marik was always laughing… oh shit.

"Look Ry, can we talk about this over the phone or something, I wanna go sit down now." Malik huffed, getting irritated.

Ryou stared up at him from his trance, and stuttered, "Uh, yea, sorry…"

Malik nodded unsurely, and walked around the frozen stiff body before him.

The albino's vision was becoming bothersome to his head ache, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes. And so he did, easily shifting his feet to go back to his table, until he bumped into something.

He opened his eyes.

Bakura.

"Oh, hey Ryou." greeted the blurry man. Ryou blinked at looked up at him like he was in a dream. "Uh, are you ok there? You seem lost." Bakura chuckled at the end of his statement, making the smaller boy blink his way to reality.

"Um… yea, I'm fine, just a little tired." The replied, trying not to wobble on his numb feet.

Bakura nodded. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight? I don't have anything going on, and it seems like everyone else is busy tonight, so…?"

Ryou was barely hearing the words, and barely able to keep his eyes open. "Yea… tonight… I'll be there. Thanks." The boy said, slowly making his way back to the table. Bakura had said something afterwards, thought Ryou did hear it.

All he could hear was Marik's laughter.

Chuckling…

Giggling…

Smiling…

Laughter is the best medicine.

* * *

OD: Well hey ya'll! Haha, so this chapter literaly wrote it's self, not even joking. It only took me about an hour to do this, so sorry for any mistakes made. Honestly, i hope you guys kinda are confused on the ending though...hehe, just keep thinking, you'll get it. But if you're a lazy bum like me, just reveiw this story with the question... and if you get what i mean, REVEIW ANYWAY! Seriously giys, reveiws are what keep me going, no joking here, none at all. Well, hope you enjoyed! No clue when i'll have the next chapter up... yea, reveiw or i'll kill you all :3

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

Uhg.

The rest of the day was brutal torture to Ryou Bakura. I mean seriously, his brain just wouldn't stop spiraling out of control, banging against his fragile skull like it was in place of his heart.

Oh. I forgot about that little detail.

Ryou's heart was gone by now, sinking deep into and endless ocean of oil and all sorts of gooey stuff. There was no end to it. Just sinking, falling until it decayed into shreds of nothing.

Amazing how terrible all this was… all he pain. Ryou did not mind it though. His pain never changes anyway. It's been the same for quite a while now.

In fact, the boy was a lot more intrigued in his thought to bother about his nerves, and even more so to the TV screen in front of him.

"Yes!" exclaimed Bakura, throwing both his arm into the air, wireless controller and all. "I win again!"

The older teen's reaction snapped Ryou out of his trance so suddenly, he almost fell off the side of the ottoman both of them lied on. Though the small albino was made a quick recovery and joked back at Bakura with a.. real smile? Huh, haven't seen that in a while.

"That's twice in a row I've beaten you now, dude! Haha, you're either really sleepy or I'm having the bet dream right now." The older joked, laying back down beside his friend. Ryou faked a laugh.

Wait- _faked_? He was just happy a minute ago! What the name in Ra happened?

Ah, well here's a little thing i can tell you that even Ryou doesn't really know.

It hurts him to see Bakura happy. I know, a mean thought, so just hear the story out. Calm down, for Slifers sake…

To be completely honest, the smaller teens mind hurt way too much to play Black Ops right now. He just simply could not get that God forsaken laughter out of his ears! It was like a bad song stuck pounding against your ear drums till they fell deaf.

Mariks laugh.

What did Malik mean anyway?

"_I do it to make Marik happy."_

That dumb sentence too. That little piece of words that had sunken Ryou's heart. He could barely hear Bakura's giggles of excitement over his thoughts.

Now let's see…

If laughing is the best medicine, then the people who laugh the most are more depressed, for a lack of better words, and those who little to never laugh, are the happiest people in the world. But then, if a person who never really laughs, starts laughing way more than they usually do, does that mean they need more happiness in their life, like laughing? Marik has always been one to laugh… what does this all mean? That Marik's depressed? Sick, maybe? But then again… he's really only been laughing at Zeke, more than anything. Now if you laugh at something like that... Well, only bullies really laugh at people like Marik does, and Ryou knew for a fact that his best friend of all time would never stoop that low…or hoped.

"Hey! Ryou,"

Said boy was lightly nudged by the other, quickly glancing towards Bakura. "Yes, what, oh! I'm sorry," the albino sighed at his failure towards interacting with his other best friend. He was here for that specific reason, so…

The taller smiled oddly at his friend. "Don't sweat it, we all blank out sometimes… but I did just kick your butt again, so…"

Okay, yea, Ryou did have a little giggle there. Bakura could be really funny sometimes. At least to Ryou, who did laugh at a lot of things in the first place.

But the grin on his face afterwards didn't fool Bakura. "Hey… are you feeling okay?" the teen asked, becoming concerned. Usually, it was Ryou who did the butt kicking when it came to video games. Or any game in particular, really.

The small albino's face broke out in a cold sweat. Why was everyone suddenly seeing through his steal tough poker face lately? First Malik, now Bakura? "Um, yea, I'm just… getting sleepy. I was up early this morning." The boy acted to stretch out his neck, trying to make it crack as if he grew stiff over the past few hours they had been sitting there on the Ottoman.

But Ryou had forgotten something. "Uh, Ry, everyone that goes to school was up early this morning." Bakura pointed out with the knitting of his brows.

The albino's face went frozen, embarrassed a bit. "Well… you see! I'm so sleepy I can't even remember what day it is!" Bakura chuckled at the boy's comment as he rolled off the ottoman and onto the floor, now sitting on his knees.

Ryou yawned while taking his head set off, and placing it next to Bakura. "If you don't mind I think I'm going to take a little nap. I know you're probably still hyped off of that cherry cola." The smaller said sarcastically to the other, who replied, "You have no clue, dude. Uh, yea, you can sleep a little, I'm cool with that." Bakura looked behind him, only to see his friend had already crashed upon the couch.

The teen snickered under his breath, pitying the poor thing. He's been so… quiet lately. A lot more solemn than his usual happy self. Things do seem to be going odd among his group of friends anymore, now that Bakura thinks of it. He can't remember the last time he'd spoken to Yugi or Marik. Malik was occasional, but that's only because they both had science class, and did many projects together. But other than that…

The teen removed his head set, throwing it elsewhere while he moved towards the younger. The boy's face was screwed up. Like he was having a nightmare. Strange.

Then a thought occurred.

What if one of his friends was causing Ryou to act so… unhappy?

Bakura pitied him even more so.

He knew his little friend didn't do well when a change in life style, and it did disgust him that a person that Ryou called a buddy would do something like that. Even if he didn't know what "that" really was.

But then again, answers are not too common in this lesson.

o.O.o

Ryou found himself crying his eyes out.

His worst nightmare had come true.

_Rejection._

"Marik, please talk to me!"

"Get away from me,"

Something else was muttered under the blonde's breath, probably a curse of some kind, a he walked angrily down the hallway.

"Just tell me what I did wrong!" The albino was typically begging his ex-best friend to speak, talk out their matters. Marik was in no mood for simply talking though.

He screamed.

"You know perfectly well what you did! You stabbed me in the back, and left me there to die in cold blood!"

To be quite honest, it was true. Mariks tears _where _the color of crimson.

_Rejection._

The computer screen felt like a vortex to the sobbing boy, his key board drenched in tears as he read the comments.

_Marik Ishtar: I hate you._

_Ryou Bakura:… what does that mean?_

_Marik Ishtar: Rly? Ur that stupid? Should have known -_-_

_Ryou Bakura: whats up with u? why r u being so mean?_

_Marik Ishtar: I could very much ask you the same thing._

_Ryou Bakura: Dude, ur making me cry_

_Marik Ishtar: wow! we have SO much in common! Too bad we cant be friends anymore. _

_Ryou Bakura: Look, I'm sorry for whatever I did! Plz dont be mad at me ):_

_Marik Ishtar: Go talk 2 someone who cares!_

Was is so weird that the comments were voiced out inside his head too? It only lead to Ryou, letting out a screech so powerful, it cracked the screen.

_Rejection._

This was bad. Hell bad.

"Hey Marik you want some ships?"

Ryou asked this with a his star bright smile giving all the kindness he had into it. Though the said boy had only carried out his conversation with another friend. The albino questioned the tanner boy again, but…

All he hear was nothing.

He just kept talking. And _rejecting_.

Ryou let the cold sweat come as the foil bag slipped from his fingertips, and shattered into a million pieces as it made contact with the lunch table.

The horrified eyes of Ryou Bakura watched as his surroundings faded into nothing but darkness. Soon, his friends were gone, and so was the seat he sat on. The boy began to fall into the ocean of endless thought, screaming, and reaching for the shards of his heart.

That's right. His heart.

Ryou put every ounce of it into those chips. It was how the albino knew if Marik still liked him. If the blonde accepted the chips, all was good. But if Ryou was rejected…

Hell. It was complete hell for the boy.

But it was a relief when his eyes flew open with a sharp gasp.

A nightmare. It was all a nightmare.

Ryou sighed while regaining his breath, staring at the large TV screen that glowed in the pitch black room. He hated when he relieved that day. It was the most terrifying experience of change he had ever imagined could be possible. He became so dumbfounded by Marik and his hate that he never wanted anybody to go through what he had to.

And that, my friends, is why Ryou Bakura will never play the codename game. It's full of hatred, and hate can kill lives. Though, the game never really has taken a life in this situation, but it was mentally killing Ryou from the inside out.

And Zeke…

The albino was so afraid that poor Zeke would experience the horrors of this game, so all Ryou simply wanted to do was protect him from going to hell.

"What's wrong?"

The voice made Ryou jump a good five inches for it being directly in his ear. The stunned boy rolled his neck around to see… Bakura?

Both teens had their mouths partly opened, a little shocked to see themselves in the position they were in. Especially Bakura, who had his arm wrapped around the smaller's waist, their legs entangled.

The taller of the two broke the silence first. "I… sorry, I must've rolled over…" the teen apologized, smiling awkwardly upon the other. "U-uh, it's, fine." Ryou stuttered, trying to find the smile inside himself. "No harm done."

Well, to be fair, it wasn't completely awkward. Both boys had their share of sleeping in the same place together. It was normal, for sleepovers. Ryou and Marik would normally fall into slumber by watching television or something of the sort, both waking up next to each other. It was the same deal with Yugi, Malik, even Bakura.

But what made Ryou especially uncomfortable about this was the fact that Bakura didn't _move_.

His arms were still around his waist, their feet stayed tangled together. Well, yea, Ryou could have moved himself but… it was then he realized that maybe Bakura was just plain fine, sleeping like that.

And if someone was happy, who was Ryou to ruin their mood? He really didn't like messing with people's feelings… he hadn't forgotten of that day he lived I hell.

So now the albino was silent of his opinions and agreed to everything. He decided it was best that way; that he'd be the yes man, and also the secretive loner.

But.. that didn't stop Ryou from showing his emotions.. or taking note of others.

Bakura… laughed a lot… today.

You need medicine of you're in pain…

Well… no pain no game, right…?

* * *

**OD:** Huh... i feel like my chapters keep getting worse and more confusing as i go on... sorry if i did a bad job on this chapter, but hey, we're not all perfect. Any questions, please R&R! And as for the ending... i felt like it was shit, but eh, whatever. See you guys in another month or so xD Love to you all :3

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned my Kazuki Takahashi.**


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

You ever catch yourself in an arcade and say, hey, that game looks really easy! Bet I could beat it in a heartbeat!

Hm, but then the funny thing is, is that the game was actually next to impossible to overcome. Ironic, isn't it? And sometimes, you might even laugh at yourself for being so stupid, especially if this would be done to another person.

Yup.

But would it be so funny if you knew what kind of shit Ryou Bakura was getting into, what cruel irony awaits for him in this Codename Game?

Let's play and find out, shall we?

o.O.o

The little organ that was once Ryou's heart is now frail and barely used. And when I say used, I mean all the things he decides is done from the handy work of his mind, what he eats, how he dresses, when to speak and when not. Hard to believe the innocent teen we all know and love wasn't replaced by an emotionless robot.

A robot on a mission, to be précised.

You see, a while back, it was said that Ryou didn't want anybody to go through the rough hatred he had, but I don't think it was quite clear how the boy had intended on preventing that.

Well… here's how Ryou sees it.

There's obviously something that angered Marik to act in such a way towards a person who used to be one of his closest friends. What that something is, he doesn't know, but it does seem that everyone, Yugi and Malik, seem to agree with whatever Bakura may have done or said to cause Marik's hatred, was enough to engage in the Codename Game.

And that's where Ryou stopped breathing for a moment.

Marik was the game master. He had Yugi, Malik, even Bakura, all wrapped around his finger like some puppet. The reason why Malik said he plays the game is to make Marik laugh; that makes sense now! Marik must have been so angry to the point of revenge, that he wanted total support in his opinion and defenses, leaving the rest of his friends to cater to his every complain, and sympathize with his emotions.

_What a total control freak!_

How could he do that to his friends, especially after what Bakura was secretly going through!

And, that's when Ryou sighed.

Goddammit. He was the one who deserved all the sympathy! If Marik think he has the right to play people to his own will just because he's being a whinny douche, he has another thing coming.

But then again, Ryou doesn't really have much of a choice but to accept that fact. The boy hates hate so much, he can't hate himself. So, he kind of just has to play along for now.

You see how this relates to playing that "really easy" game in the arcade now? Like when you get to a certain level of it maybe, and you're just kind of stuck in the middle of it all and don't know what to do, but then suddenly figure out a way to continue?

Well that's exactly what our innocent albino did. What his brilliant strategy is?

Become Bakura's slave of happiness.

Yea. Pretty darn creepy.

But to put it into more complex words, he's really just becoming what Marik did to Yugi and Malik, but, Bakura doesn't "abuse" the "power" like Marik. Ryou willingly goes out of his way to make his white haired friend laugh and smile.

Not necessarily at school, though. Yes, the Codename Game was still a big hit with the three other boys, who laughed up a storm while Ryou didn't even attempt at pretending to laugh. Marik would coincidently make eye contact with him, but Ryou simply gave a blank stare, almost scowling at his friend.

No, it was on the weekends that Ryou became the happy slave of Bakura. Like when they'd play video games, or any type of game really, the smaller would let his friend win most of the time, only sneaking in a few victories to make it look like he wasn't faking his losses. Bakura didn't have a clue that Ryou was doing this, but it made him quite happy.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Didn't Ryou say that he'd rather Bakura act sad instead of happy, because of that laughter thingy? Well, yea, he did say that. But that was out of "longing for happiness", as I call it. Like, the phrase laughter is the best medicine, only means that a person who is down or depressed may need a little laughter or happiness in their life, causing their spirits to rise.

That's what Ryou was doing; he was the medicine that made Bakura happy.

But, there's also a flip side to that saying. Instead of a sad person getting medicine, they may not get any at all. It's like when someone is out casted from a group of people; that person will soon crave for another human to interact with.

Now take note of what I just explained. It'll be a very important key in later lessons.

We need to move on with the game anyway.

o.O.o

I wouldn't say Ryou has "advanced" much from where we left off last time. Actually, in my honest opinion, I think he's completely lost.

Not even his own conscience could get through the thick wall of logic blocking all common sense in his head. Don't believe me? Listen here.

Remember a few seconds ago when Ryou vowed himself to make Bakura the Happiest person in all of Domino High? Yea, it sounds pretty harmless enough, having the example I gave only be letting him win a few video games.

Now remember a very long time ago, when Bakura had accidently rolled over into Ryou, and then that awkward moment came where Bakura never moved from that spot?

Well.

Bakura still didn't move from that spot.

* * *

OD: Hey! hehe, yea, long time no update, huh? Well i tried to give you guys a complex thing, and i thought i actually did a decent job at doing that, so i didn't want to bombared you readers with too much, because if i where to continue what i have planned, you guys might go insane. Not saying that you guys are stipud, or anything... alright, this statement is confused. Well, R&R, please. i write more when i know i actualy have readers... pretty please?

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

Confused much? Yea, I thought so.

Now, of the top of your head, what would you say is the most joyful of things? Hanging with friends, maybe sleeping in a few extra hours on a Saturday? Well, not for Bakura. He's a rather… different type of person when it comes to that stuff.

The word "different" in that sentence says a lot. But I guess I should explain why, huh? Well, let's not waste any more time.

You see, as a child, Bakura was, abused by his parents. Mentally, emotionally, physically.

Sometimes even sexually.

Of course, that all ended about five or six years ago. Thankfully, Bakura's mother and father where caught, and arrested. Since that day, the guy's gone through numerous amount of therapy. He's recovered bits and pieces of his physiological traumas, but sadly the physical and emotional damage was done, permanent and there to stay.

As you could guess, that's why Bakura's classified as different from others, and the way he views things are also inhuman, for lack of a better word. Only a select few people know this dark detail of Bakura's life.

Ryou's one of them.

Ryou also knows another thing, too. He might be only one to know, though.

I warn you, this is quite disturbing. But if you've come this far, I guess you could handle it okay.

Back when Bakura was a child and cared for by his parents, certain rules where laid out. One important one was, if you're bad, you get punished, if you're good, you get praised. Sound simple enough.

Being praised was probably the worst thing that could happen to little Bakura. Think about that for a moment now.

Yup.

Innocence gone before he even reached 6th grade.

Things where always whispered to him, saying things like "This is supposed to feel good," or maybe, "Don't you want to be happy?"

You know. Sick things like that.

It happened way to many times for Bakura to ever view the world straight again, though. Now, his brain only sees that what happened to him so many times is all meant for a person's joy and happiness.

Whether they wanted it or not.

Ryou knew this, and he used it to his advantages when being his slaved self.

That's what I mean when Bakura didn't move. That same thing happens like that awkward night, almost every weekend. It's like a check-up at the doctors. Ryou visits Bakura for a sleepover, makes him laugh and smile, and then…yea.

Not all the way though. No, no, no, these kids have at least some common sense into what their dealing with.

It's like Ryou was Bakura's little teddy bear. You know, when you're a child and have that thing you can't sleep with out, whether it be a blanket or a stuffed animal. The smaller teen is exactly just that. Something Bakura can cuddle with in the middle of the night.

But simply cuddling wasn't enough.

One fatal night came along, where the two were lying together. Ryou thought Bakura had fallen asleep, and was about to do the same when his nerves became unsettled. Waking up from his dreary state, he soon knew what was happening.

Soft lips trailed upon the teen's porcelain neck, making Ryou's eyes widen in sudden shock, but it wasn't long until those eyes screwed themselves shut. Soon, a wet tongue slithered across the skin, the smaller albino shivering under the irregular feeling.

Of course, Ryou wasn't really sure what to make of it. His body was reacting as any teenagers would, but the things he thought weren't exactly one might think in a time like this.

_It makes him happy, it makes him happy._

All through the night those words where echoed in the smaller's mind, telling himself that letting Bakura do this type of thing to him was just to put a smile on that face of his dear friend.

And that how it went, for week upon weeks. Every Friday night, this would happen. Every time, Ryou lost an ounce of sanity.

Now, you might be wondering what all this change means to Ryou Bakura.

To be honest, it's just become a part of his routine, another regular even added onto his schedule.

It's a scary thought. How emotionless Ryou was now. It's even more scary that that's when people started to notice something was wrong. Bakura had been suspicious for a long time, though, and Ryou knew that.

He just didn't know how suspicious Marik really was about his turn in behavior.

o.O.o

During their free period, Yugi, Malik and the Game master himself where out chatting in the hallway, keeping their voices low.

"You guys notice how weird Martin's acting?" Marik asked, his tone serious, in which alerted the two other boys to become worried.

"Ya mean… Ryou?" Yugi questioned, not sure if he was referring to their friend or another person.

Marik rolled his eyes. "Yes Yugi, if I didn't mean him, I wouldn't be using his Code name."

Ah, and I get to explain yet another thing. See, way back in the beginning of the school year when the codename game didn't exist, the four friends where being silly like any other teenager boy would be in school, and decided to give each other "code names" just because boredom makes people do stupid and pointless stuff. Marik came up with most of them, naming Ryou Martin and Yugi Pablo. Malik wanted to be called Johnny for specific reasons, and Marik gladly announced himself as Sebastian.

Sadly, the day that happened, Bakura was absent, but in his "honor" apparently, the four of them decided on Zeke.

To think something so harmless became a game of wits.

"He has gotten quiet of the past few weeks," Malik interrupted the shot silence. "You think he'd be a different person."

Marik leant his back onto the out-of-order soda machine behind him, staring off into space. "If Zeke did anything to make him act like that…" the blond didn't even want to finish the sentence. He didn't want to think about Zeke. It only made his rage grow faster.

Yugi chuckled under his breath, grabbing the attention of the two others. "Like he could ever depress Ryou, he's one of the happiest people I know!"

"That is true. I don't think Zeke would ever stoop so low to do that, and he's got no reason to anyway. I'd stop worrying about either of them, if I where you." Marik nodded, trying to take on a serious look.

Marik sighed silently. "I know." He said after a moment or so. "I just don't know how to trust that white-haired bitch anymore." The teen whispered into his fingers, just low enough so his friends couldn't make out the words.

Shortly after, Yugi and Malik left the blonde, seeing that what he really wanted to do was think this whole stupid thing out.

Marik was a complex person. He always stuck to a schedule, always hung out with the same friends, always ate the same foods, and so on. If one of those things where changed or tampered with, he'd go berserk. Especially with his friends. If one of them where to say something to him or do something he didn't like, there'd be a bomb to go off, or a sword slow cutting through a substance till its torn apart. In this case, it was a sword, which was far worse than a bomb.

Marik logic was that if you mess with him, he messes with you, plain and simple. But he didn't make it simple. He made it so complex that maybe even a rocket scientist couldn't figure out his master strategy.

But that's how a teenage mind works with drama. It's so unnecessarily stupid, that it block all common sense.

He was just like Ryou.

Only Ryou was a bomb, ready to go off.

While Bakura was that little parasite behind the soda machine, listening to what his three friends had juts said about Ryou.

And he had completely gotten the wrong idea.

He thought that Marik was after _Ryou_, and not him.

Oops.

But Bakura was mad. His suspicions had been correct about one of their friends causing Ryou pain. It was sickening! What person would go out of their way to make someone so miserable!

Oh, but only if Bakura knew that he was the target, and not Ryou.

Maybe his off-the-top-of-my-head-plan would have been different… oh, so you wanna know what that plan is?

Well, he wants to make Ryou happy.

The way he was made happy when he was a child.

By _praising_ him.

* * *

OD: HOLY JUMPING SARCOFOGUS! TWO CHAPTERS WITHIN 24 HOURS? I MUST BE CRAZY! Haha, naw, i'm sane, don't worry. I just kinda decided i wanted to get this fanfic done before Broken, because i have an extreme case of writers block for that story, and having this fanfic is WAY shorter than Broken, i thought i'd take a break. I only have a estamate of about three chapters left for this story, and i should get it done soon. i'll have the next chapter posted later today, and i'm making that a promise. why? because i split chapter 6 in half and called the rest chapter 7. So. yea. the good stuff has yet to come in the next chapter.

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahshi.**


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

Huh, the feeling of the unknown. It's hard to place what it exactly feels like, a lot of the times, especially when that feeling is unknown to a person who doesn't even know that the feeling may be coming.

But yet we already know what's goanna happen to Ryou Bakura, don't we? So, I guess there's nothing to fear, huh?

Oh wait, yes there is! We only know what's planned, not what actually happens! Heh, funny how plans can get so messed up when it comes to this stuff. Well. Let's see if this one works out, hm?

o.O.o

The night sky seems rather darker when Ryou walks under it. Maybe because there are no stars out, or perhaps that cheerful child strolling on the sidewalk is a little less brighter than he used to be.

Wonder what the truth is.

Too bad we'll never know. Why? Because that child known as Ryou Bakura is only a few steps away from knocking on his best friends door.

_Knock, knock._

…

Well that was weird. Usually, Bakura was waiting for the other, and opened to door without a second even passing.

The teen knocked again.

Still no answer.

This time, the boy was breaking out in a cold sweat, almost hammering the door down with his fist, and at first he'd thought he did actually break the door, having it creak open so suddenly.

Ryou's breath was held in his throat as he stared cautiously though the opening, hand still clenched into a fist. Relaxing his fingers, the boy peaked his head inside. The house was completely dark, the only exception being the single ray of light coming from the door, and even that wasn't really illuminating the place too much.

But, none the less, Ryou slid inside, becoming cold in the December weather. As he closed the door behind him, the teen's ears perked up, trying to see if he could hear Bakura calling from anywhere.

After a long time of simply listening to his own breath, Ryou decided to call out instead. "Hello? Bakura? I'm here-!"

And just like that, the boy was seized by something, someone probably, because what felt like a hand was firmly placed over the boy's mouth, his squeals for help becoming muffled and useless. There wasn't just hand, though. No, something else was there, something soft was resting on Ryou's lips. Like fabric maybe.

In due time, the boy became lightheaded, and his struggles faded along with his weakening mind, dreary eyelids slowly coming to a close. With his body numb and weightless, the assaulter regretted his hold on the boy, and let him fall to the tiled floor.

Ryou's world went black.

o.O.o

It's felt like he'd been sleeping for a day or so when the slumbering albino had finally awakened, feeling like he'd just went to a bar and gotten drunk, of course leading to that all-famous hang over.

Like this innocent teenager would do such a thing though.

Anyway, as soon as Ryou's body forced an actual awakening, the boy attempted to sit up, but found it was a little impossible to do that when a heavy object was sitting on top of you.

The boy's brows scrunched together, becoming a little scared since the room was pitch black, making it obviously hard to see.

"Hey, you're awake."

Ryou jumped out of his skin when he was spoken to. And then, he froze. That voice was way to familiar.

"B…Bakura?" The smaller asked, voice quiet and surprisingly shaky.

"…Yea."

You wouldn't believe how many questions that word could have answered for Ryou

Yea, I'm here.

Yea, I'm sitting on top of you.

Yea, I was the one who attacked you.

And so forth.

But, with all the fuzziness in the boy's head, he couldn't actually make out what question to ask, in which case left his breath to go uneven, cracking it whenever the boy tried to relieve his immense head ache he had going on.

This lead Bakura to think he was either in pain or was crying, but neither was what the older wanted the younger to do.

Slowly exhaling a cold breath, Bakura slowly leaned his face down to meet Ryou's, on a few inched apart from each other. "Shhh," the older teen whispered. "It's okay."

Ryou's whole body stiffened as he felt the other's hot breath blow against his blushing cheeks.

"Don't need to cry," he whispered again. Ryou was lost for a moment, pondering whether Bakura was talking to him, or himself. Going upon the fact that he wasn't cry, Ryou decided to go with the latter.

And so the boy sat contently, waiting for Bakura to do what he always does.

But even from the moment he woke up, Ryou knew something was going to be different about tonight.

He knew that even before Bakura's lips trailed over his own, acting like a magnet to the younger's mouth. Out of human instinct, Ryou's body agreed to the lip lock, but only for a second or two before the boy realized what he was actually doing.

It was a failed attempt at wriggling away from the kiss, for Bakura had his fingers set firmly under the smaller's chin, drowning all hope of escape.

As the older shifted his lips upon Ryou's, they parted, giving an excellent chance for Bakura to enter the warm caver. Being as gentle as possible, he easily slipped his eager tongue into the foreign mouth, trying to pleasure his friend like planned.

Ryou felt as if he'd just ate a sour patch kid. His cheeks where burning and the corners of his mouth felt like they were being caressed by his own muscles. The feeling was scary. Like he was being shrunken down into miniature size.

But then he had to think to himself.

_It makes him happy, it makes him happy._

Yea. Ryou wasn't goanna abandon his role of the slave of happiness just because he was afraid. Bakura deserves to do what he wants, no? Well Ryou thought so.

Lips still interlocked, Bakura had slithered his hands up to Ryou's, bringing them well above their heads and sneaking their fingers together. Soon, Bakura was able to settle himself in between his friend's legs, and began to steadily thrust himself forward, deepening the kiss further more. Ryou's eyes where screwed shut now, tears slowly leaking off his lashes.

It wasn't till he separated their lips that Bakura notice the younger was crying. His face dragged at the sight, then leaning back down to the boy's ear. "It's okay. I'm going to make you feel better." the taller whispered once again, nipping softly at the child's ear lode and trailing his heated tongue across the flawless skin.

Once he was through with that, Bakura began to plant several kisses along Ryou's neck, in which felt like tweezers where pulling on his skin, but it didn't inflict pain like it one usually would. Yet it wasn't that pleasurable either.

Bakura's lips had come in contact with the collar of Ryou's shirt, which thankfully was a button-down shirt. After tugging on the rim of the clothing with his teeth, the older gradually undid the button, slowly revealing the meek figure that was Ryou Bakura.

Once complete with the shirt, the taller decided to run his hands across the porcelain chest, spreading each side of the loose shirt to fall to Ryou's sides. Like a snow plow does to the fallen snow on the road, almost. Bakura's hands soon meant with the younger's frail shoulders, leaving his upper region exposed and vulnerable to the older teen.

"Breath," he reminded his friend, barely above a whisper. Ryou bit his lips as more kisses where inflicted on his tender skin, trailing all the way down to where his sensitive nipples became to rock hard. And as you could guess, Bakura was immediately nipping and sucking on the nub, his right hand toying with the other.

Ryou's fingernails tore microscopic holes into the sheets, trying to contain his cries. Sadly, his tears could not be contained and continued to silently flow down his blushing face.

_It makes him happy, it makes him happy…_

Bakura was soon satisfied with his work on both nipples, and decided to venture lower, leaving a trail of hot breath to moisten his subject's cloud-like skin. He stopped at Ryou's cute belly button, and without wasting another precious moment, eased his wet lips around the circle, and sucked.

Ryou's mouth opened and gasped due to the surprising emotion he was getting from all this, and as the older continued, his back arched, higher and higher. Bakura took a rather risky step and snakes his hands down to stroke at Ryou's sides. Said boy almost screamed, having two feelings of the same type shiver at his nerves and hormones.

More tears sprouted as the older dipped his worm-like tongue into the crevice, swirling it round in circles, back and forth. The younger's mouth was hanging wide open, a moan begging to escape, but Ryou, somehow, was able to hold it back.

Bakura finally gave mercy upon the poor belly button, and decided to take a peek if his work had done any good. This time he sighed when he saw the face of his dear friend. "Please, I just want you to feel better." He cooed to Ryou, who only kept his head turned to one side.

With a sad expression, Bakura decided maybe it was best not to speak to him right now. This was a whole new experience to the kid, an experience that's only Bakura had gone through a bazillions times. It's hard to remember how new this all is when it's only a bad memory to himself.

Making good use of the time, the older decided to take off his own shirt, later throwing the thing onto the floor. Resuming to where he'd left off, Bakura easily sunk his hands town to the boy's slender hips, creating circles on the open skin, steadily building up to what he really intended on doing.

Ryou lay frozen and shivering, fingers still curled into the sheet beneath him. The kid had no clue what was coming, completely unaware, but yet still was able to cry about it. Funny how you can cry over something you don't know.

Either way, the older's hands came very close to the button on the smaller's pants, his own heart pounding at the thought. Bakura's hands did shake a little when he reached for that button, and even more so when the zipper was unzipped.

Biting his lip just a tad, the taller removed the clothing slowly, eyeing towards Ryou, taking notice if there was any hesitation to what he wanted to do.

Not able to tell since the smaller's head was turned in the other direction, Bakura decided to go with instinct and got Ryou down to nothing but his boxers. The older teen eyed the body for a moment, taking yet another precaution for any sign of pain. Bakura knew how painful all this could be, and since this was all for getting a smile out of his good friend, he didn't want to make any mistakes.

Breathing deeply, the taller moved his hands down to the smaller's thighs, carefully massage the tender flesh so that when the hardcore stuff happened , the feeling was not so foreign to Ryou's skin. As the older's hands ventured up north, soon coming in contact with the smaller's slightly growing erection.

Ryou squirmed a bit underneath the touch, his body unsure if it should be leaning into it or shriveling into its own little ball. Oddly enough, I think it was doing both actions.

After countless minutes of playing with the smaller's manhood, Bakura's fingers made their way to the waistband on Ryou's boxers, slowly tugging on the last of his clothing. Said boy began shivering when he felt them being removed from his body, fresh tears springing from his eyes as well.

_It makes him happy, it makes him happy._

Now, the little albino was left naked and innocent, waiting for the man above him to do what he pleased.

Bakura's eyes where hazily fixed on the lower regions of his friend, hands still kneading the flesh one last time. Once the older decided enough was enough, he slid his hands down the boy's legs, spreading them apart from each other.

Already, Bakura could hear his Uke's breath becoming ragged. The taller sighed once more as he climbed over the smaller body before him, their faces aligning with each other. Bakura leaned his face close into Ryou's, almost like they were going to kiss again, but it didn't happen. "Please," the taller spoke in a loud whisper, snaking his hands to cradle the younger's face. "Don't cry. I'll make you feel better."

Sealing the apparent promise with another passionate kiss, Bakura entered the boy without much of any warning, and was it the most painful thing Ryou could have ever imagined.

The boys head jerked back, immediately breaking away from the kiss, gasping at the feeling of another human being inside him.

_Oh Gods. _It hurt, it hurt _really bad_. But not exactly in the way you'd think. No, all the pain was congested in Ryou's chest, a big gaping hole right where his heart was. Something had snapped inside the boy's mind, and the cause for that was a river flowing with tears.

Bakura's eyes stung at his friends face, thinking he'd caused him more pain that pleasure. Really, Bakura was inflicting a lot of pleasure to the smaller, but when that's combined with the pain he felt in his chest, it created an emotion that scared little Ryou.

"No, don't cry," the taller half pleaded, thrusting harder and deeper into the boy's entrance, taking every last bit of purity he had left.

Eyes glued shut, Ryou tried to obey the command, but the emotions rushing though out his head where too much to take. A cross between a scream and a moan escaped his mouth more than a dozen times, and with each sound, Bakura fucked him harder, deeper, and faster.

And then that sweet moment came where those jumble of nerves was struck, making the boy see white, gasping so hard he almost choked on his own scream.

Bakura kissed and licked every inch of Ryou's sweat and tear ridden face, trying to comfort the teen with gentle whispers and sweet actions of love, but to no avail.

Ryou screamed, knuckles turning white as they ripped the bed sheets apart, his throat becoming raw and sore.

_It makes him happy, it makes him happy._

The feeling soon became so unbearable to his own sanity, that with one last deafening scream, Ryou released his seed in hope of relief, the liquid splattering all over both teens' stomach's.

Surprised by the sudden layer warmth beneath him, Bakura was shocked into his own orgasm, fingers almost pulling out a chunk of the smaller's hair in the process.

Both boys where left in a cold sweat and a heavy pant, Ryou hyperventilating more than anything. After a few moment, Bakura pulled his limp member out from the abused entrance, and curled up with Ryou, cradling the weeping boy in his arms, whispering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over again into his ear.

Ryou never got why though. If anything, he should be the one apologizing. He was the one who failed on making Bakura happy like he had planned. Instead, Ryou was left with no innocence and a guilty feeling gnawing at his heart, until he fell unconscious for the night.

Bakura on the other hand was no different, though. All he wanted was to make his little friend feel loved and cherished unlike Marik who was bad mouthing him earlier on.

Huh.

I think this whole situation was just full of irony, don't you think? I mean, both Bakura and Ryou wanted to make each other feel happy, but… all they really did was tear each other apart.

* * *

OD: ...i'm just... i'm just so happy how my first lemon turned out xD i realy thought i'd do a terrible job at it, but it turned out... okay, i would say. Not perfect, but okay. Anyway... *grins* so how'd you like the yaoi, huh? xD but seriously i'd like your guy's opinion so i can improve and bring you more lemony scenes :3 But on a serious note; there's only about two chapters to this fic to go until i finnish it, and i should be posting them within the next two days. So, be happy readers, this horrific story is almost coming to a close! Please R&R 3

P.S. Oh, and just for your curiosity, no, i don't really classify this a a rape fic, because they where only doing it for each other happiness. Plus, it's not so much that they're a couple either, it was just a "friend" thing of that makes any sense at all. I love tendershipping, but in this fiction, they're only best friends, and nothing more. if you wan a romance fiction, some of my other fic's have that, so i'd go check them out! Thanks!

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

Something was up with Ryou.

Marik couldn't exactly put his finger on it, but something was definitely wrong about his best friend. Like how he was never on Facebook anymore, especially on the weekends. That was never like Ryou, being the person that he is.

It had also been a while since the blond had even talked to him, which also goes for online chatting. The boy was starting to feel maybe he had been ignoring Ryou a little too much.

But it wasn't like he was ignoring him on purpose, though. No, it was just that Marik had grown semi-popular at school, and was befriending more and more people by the day now. So, he started to get to know them better, like a person usually would. It's just that Ryou had gotten lost somewhere along his list of friends is all. It was an accidental ignorance, shall we say.

Only problem was is that the new attention might be going to the blondes head a little too much.

You see, back in elementary school, Marik wasn't exactly the most popular kid in class. Not to say people didn't notice him with all his brightly colored clothing, sparkly jewelry, and long flowing hair. Actually, Marik was like a sore thumb compared to the other boy's in class when he was dressed like so, which was typically every day. It's just that, well, his fellow classmates didn't approve of how noticeable he was.

They didn't get why a boy would dress so effeminately, and all they wanted to do was push that hot mess out of their minds. As a result, Marik was left to be the loner, always huddled into a corner of the lunch table.

That was, until little Ryou Bakura came and sat down next to him one fateful day. The two boys grew to become great friends over a period of time, each compatible about how girly they looked compared to the other boy's in their grade, or any grade for that matter. And, all through the years of middle school, it continued to just be them, the only three exceptions being Yugi. Malik was a different case since he was related to Marik, but you get the idea.

And so, when the blonde was suddenly attracting all these other people, he became a little over whelmed, hence why Ryou was a tad forgotten.

And that's why he'd never forgive Zeke.

What he said could never be taken back.

How the past levels of a game can affect the ones to come.

o.O.o

Who knew what day it was? Who even cared?

Well, Ryou did. He couldn't stand not knowing what time it was. The boy had to get home, and study for the exams next week. He couldn't risk his schedule getting all messed up.

Bu then again, would he even be able to get home? Ryou's body ached all over, feeling hollow, yet full of guilt at the same time. It wasn't a very nice emotion either, quite depressing actually. But it wasn't totally foreign to the little teen's body. No, he's felt this way for a while now. It's just ten times worse than it was before.

But Ryou had another reason for why he shouldn't go home. Yea, he was still hell-bent over the fact he'd failed on making the one and only person he could call a friend at the moment happy. Gods, does this kid have no life?

Sadly, yes. Yes he does.

It's all messed up just like the bed sheets beneath him. Yea, he hasn't moved much either. Still unclothed and still alone. He hadn't been awake when Bakura left, and patiently waited for the other come back. I guess that's another reason why Ryou refused to leave; he couldn't do something as mean as abandon Bakura after what had happened. It just didn't seem human.

Ryou just didn't seem human either. So maybe that plan might have worked.

The boy's thought was silenced as he heard the door creek open, his breath being held captive as it closed. Ryou knew too well that it was obviously Bakura who had entered the room, but there was an uneasy feeling in his stomach despite the fact there was probably nothing to fear.

Probably.

Same goes for the older, though. Bakura was very unsettled about how the younger would react. Sort of.

There wasn't really much human to Bakura either. His decisions where all based off of logic as well, even if the reasons may not be too sensible. Bat that's what happens when the mind becomes corrupted and twisted over an amount of years.

You see, back in his childhood when he was "praised", there was always a certain way of how things happened. Not actually giving out the graphic details, a good explanation would be logic itself.

See, when you and a friend might be walking together, laughing and all that, one of you might lose their balance and trip. One friend might ask the other if he or she is okay, and if not, you would want to comfort them, right?

Well, maybe you and a friend are having an argument, but the situation gets out of control, and one of you punches the other in the face. Should that person be given sympathy, or not?

Well that's what Bakura was taught as a child. If you're doing nothing wrong and you get hurt, then you must be comforted. But if you're hurt, and where acting nasty, you should not be pleasured.

In this case, Ryou had done nothing wrong, and was hurt. So now he must be pleasured.

Simple. Yet so stupid at the same time.

Bakura slowly sat down next to Ryou, in who didn't dare move a muscle.

"Good morning." The older greeted, plainly like any other person would. Ryou stayed quiet, not sure how to respond. "Are you feeling okay?"

Again, there was a long silence that tugged at Bakura's chest. Though sooner or later, with a groggy voice, the smaller had finally spoken. "Bakura… I… I want go home."

Said man's nearly gasped. Why would Ryou want to go home? To go back to how everything was, where Marik and the other's secretly made fun of him. No. No, Bakura wouldn't allow his friend to do that.

"W-why?" Bakura stuttered, leaning in closer to where the younger lay to still. "You can't go back," he said like it was common sense, breath sweeping over Ryou's cloud-like skin. The boy shivered, goosebumps becoming more and more visible by the second.

_It makes him happy, it makes him happy._

Without even thinking about it, Ryou's eyes began leaking tears, just as Bakura's soft lips meant his trembling ones. It wasn't as settle as last night had been though. Next to immediately, the older's tongue parted the smaller's mouth, exploring the cavern like it was a mine full of gold.

Bakura's hands hand's hastily made their way to the wrists of the younger, pinning them just above his head. "They'll just treat you badly," the older said, suddenly pulling back from the kiss, and roughly going back in, much deeper this time. Again, Bakura broke their lip lock, voice shaky. "I can make you feel better."

One more time, the taller slipped his tongue into Ryou's mouth, the kiss being much, _much_ deeper than any time before now. It was terrifying the little albino. Why was his friend being so rough, and speaking to himself again? If anything, Ryou was probably more afraid for Bakura than he was himself.

Probably.

And just like that, the clothes came off, quicker and quicker each time.

Now, you're probably thinking, what do you mean _each time_? Well think about this for a second.

Ryou won't leave because he feels sorry for Bakura and wants to make him happy, and Bakura wants Ryou to stay because he think he'll be treated badly if he's around anyone else. Well, since poor little Ryou doesn't exactly know how else to express his confusion except by crying, Bakura's going to thing that it's his fault for hurting him, and thus leads into the whole praising thing.

Guys… it's an endless cycle. It can't be stopped. Sorry, but that's just how it goes. I can't fix their minds, what they think is right and wrong. You can't change a characters humanity in a game.

The again, neither of the two are really that human. So maybe, this plan could work.

A little, _change_, you know?

o.O.o

For the record I was completely right about the cycle. It had gone on for about four days now, and it was a hell of a toll on Ryou's frail body and weak mind. He felt violated and useless, like he'd been cheated on, but yet knew it, so he couldn't blame anyone for how he felt.

No one but himself was to blame, all shivering and curled up in a ball while sobbing his eyes out. Bakura wasn't present in the room, probably doing whatever, wherever.

His body was celebrating inside, so happy not to have those hands or lips touching him. It only made Ryou want to puke his guts out; he told himself countless times that Bakura was just sad and needed the happiness, but to no avail.

Instead, he focused on other things, like the exams perhaps. It took what was left of his mind, and gave it an ounce of relief.

All until that creak echoed about the bedroom, signaling that the door was opened, and wouldn't you have guessed? Bakura walked inside! Yea, you probably thought it was Marik or something, didn't you?

Never the less, it made Ryou jump up so suddenly, Bakura froze in the midst of closing the entrance. For a simple few moments, both boy's just stared at each other, eyes wide and desperate. Soon, Bakura noticed how antsy his friend was. Like escape was the only thing on his mind.

This scared the older. "Ryou, please," he started, but it was no use. The other teen had already scrambled to the other side of the room. Of course, this wasn't the first time Ryou had tried this technique, but it was the first time he'd stared so helplessly at the older.

Like I said, it was scary. And inhuman. "Ry, I just want to make you feel better," Bakura cooed, slowly nearing the smaller teen, who stands shaking in another corner of the room.

_No, no, it's hurts to much._

Bakura reached the boy, placing his warm hands into his shoulders. "Okay?"

_I'm not okay, please, can't you see that?_

Oh, gods. Why can't one of those thoughts flowing through Ryou's mind somehow become actual sentences? Why?

_It makes him happy it makes him happy._

The taller teen's cheek rested lightly on the smaller's, breath moistening his ear when he spoke. "Don't you understand that?"

Ryou's eyes widened as all other sounds went deaf.

Ka-boom.

I told you he was a bomb ready to go off.

"_No, Bakura!_" the enraged albino screeched, roughly pushing the other boy off of himself. "I-I, don't, want this!" he explained, hands thrashing about, emphasizing his point.

"I'm sorry, I truly am. But, I just, can't anymore, I can't. I want to make you happy Bakura, believe me, I do! But I can't… I can't d-do it-t anymore-re…" by this time, he smaller is down onto his knees, hands whipping away the heavy tears that blurred his vision, sobs echoing through the room like he was there was to listen to.

And Bakura listened. Listened real good.

Again he placed his hands into the wobbly ones of Ryou, bringing the boy in close for a semi-hug, letting him mumble his sobs out until he was well finished.

"I'm sorry," the older said after a long few minutes. "I didn't know I was putting you through so much pain… it's just–" "No, I know," Ryou interrupted, "It's just how you were taught. I understand."

More silence. "Yea," Bakura answered back. "Still. I was just trying to make you happy."

The smaller furrowed his brows. Now why would he want to make Ryou happy for? I didn't make that much sense to the boy. "What do you mean by that?" he asked the taller.

Ryou could almost feel Bakura's heart stop. "Well," he half stuttered, "Last week at school I… I heard Marik and the others calling you bad names. They were… talking about that Zeke guy, and then said something about you…"

The smaller's heart stopped as well. Oh Ra, this was awkward. Bakura must've overheard Marik talking with the other victims of this game, and might have misunderstood the insult to be brought towards himself. The two boys do look oddly similar, you know.

Well! What was little Ryou goanna say?! He can't exactly go against his word to Marik and tell him…

You know what… Ryou's too powerless as he is. You really think he's goanna be able to lie to Bakura now? It's best he just got the truth. The albino can deal with Marik and them later.

"Bakura," the smaller said, rather weakly.

"Yes?" said man answered back, relieved the silence between them had broken.

"… You're Zeke."

He said that phrase over and over again, like it was the answer to world peace. It felt so good. It felt great to get that off his chest.

The hole in his heart disappeared.

Funny how that works, huh?

Slowly, Ryou began to black out, exhausted and in complete bliss about how light he suddenly felt, floating off with the colors of the wind, hoping he'd just stay asleep so he didn't have to wake up in a world of hate tomorrow.

Like the world of hate Bakura was now in.

* * *

OD: Mkay guys, so this little story is coming to a close! haha, next chapter is my last one, so...yea. I'll say my thanks next chapter. Uh, yea, a little bit of drama i guess... im so terrible at drama Dx don't kill me. But, next chapter i'm going to blow you guys minds away. I'm saying that so i'll actualy make an attempt at actualy making it awesome. That way, when i promse somthing, i have to keep that promise, no? Haha, heh, i've been writing way to much of this...

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

When Ryou Bakura's eyes first saw the light of day, he was nearly blinded, having been in a windowless room for the past few days.

Blinking a few times, the albino's vision soon became clear; he was… outside? Ryou knitted his brows, obviously confused as he sat up, eyes scanning the scenery about him. A small lawn, tree's placed about the area, a sidewalk lead before him.

He was sitting on the front step of Bakura's porch.

"Don't move."

Speak of the devil.

Ryou gasped so sharply, the sound was muted has he went to look over his shoulder, to see if his friend was there like he had thought.

"Don't look back, either." The older commanded, voice strangely faint.

Jerking his head forward, the younger teen gripped onto the edge of the steps, a cold sweat forming on the back of his neck.

"I'm letting you go home, Ryou," Bakura though aloud, "I'm sorry that I hurt you… I hope you know I was just trying to help… maybe we can still be friends…"

The younger's face paled. What did he mean? They were always going to be friends…

"You can leave now," the older said rather quickly.

Swallowing his breath down whole, Ryou steadily stood up from where he sat, eyes darting back around his shoulder. With a little shakiness to his fatal frame, the boy made each step he took seem lethal. Several times, he tried to look back upon Bakura, but each time, he was always told to look forward.

It felt like ages until Ryou made that first step off of Bakura Touzokuou's property, rounded the corner, and continued down the many blocks he had to go until reaching his destination.

And was it brutal.

How could he be so careless all of a sudden, just telling Bakura that he was actually Zeke! Gods, he's probably the worst friend ever! Not only that, but he broke his promise to Marik that'd he'd keep Zeke a secret.

Maybe he should have done that; just have kept it a secret. Just think of how happy Bakura was before he knew; not a care in the world! Now he's probably all worked up and just as confused as Ryou is. Huh, and somehow he knew Marik was going to hate him all over again for being honest with Bakura.

Ryou has tried and tried for years and years to keep a happy life, with happy friends. How did this go so wrong? Why didn't his plans and schedule's work, it's just utterly and completely baffled the boy, and…

You know.

Fuck it.

This fucking game is to fucking confusing for his mind to handle, so just forget it. Ryou Bakura is out, no more, dead, done, off the playing board. He's just goanna end up being a useless pawn in the end, so why even see the end of the game, if there is any end to it.

Why not just stop now and enjoy life as it is, like a regular human should?

But that's exactly my point, you see? Ryou Bakura isn't that human anymore. IF he was going to drop out of the Codename Game, then he was going to do it with his head held high.

o.O.o

Friday, December 18th.

Ryou never looked so angry as he marched down the hallways of Domino High. For once in his life, he was beyond outrageous. He wanted his mind to make sense again, he wanted his questions to be answered, and more importantly he wanted out.

Best way to get all of these problems settled is to discuss them with the game master himself, no?

Well, that's Ryou's plan. Let's see how it goes.

The teen's face cringed as he caught sight of Marik Ishtar, who was still placing books and other supplies back into his locker. Out of instinct, the blonde turned his head and also spotted his friend coming down the hall.

With a smile, he greeted the albino. "Hey, Ryou. I was wondering what–" and with a sharp slap to the face, he was silenced.

The impact had been so loud, a few other students had turned their heads to the scene, now watching Marik cradle his burning cheek.

Whispers started to float about the area.

The blonde easily raised his head to face the attacker. "Why the hell was that for!?" Marik exclaimed to his friend.

"I want out." Ryou assertively stated. The other teen squinted at him. "Out of what!?"

"I don't want to play the Codename Game anymore, Marik." The albino explained, a little more oomph in his usually meek tone.

The blonde's eyes widened. "But, why?"

Ryou rolled his eyes, baffled by how little Marik actually knew about what his dear friend went through. "Because! It's tearing me apart!" the albino now yelled, catching the attention of everyone who lingered about the halls. "Don't you ever think about anyone else but yourself?"

"Of course I do!" Marik defended himself.

"Oh _really_?" the other rejected. "Then why do you constantly make Zeke's life a living hell, huh!? Why don't you ever consider his feeling, or, or maybe my feelings, or anybody else in this damn school!"

Tears began rolling down both of the boy's faces, one from anger, and the other from disbelief.

"_Because!_" Marik exclaimed, face red and mascara running. "He can' be trusted, Ryou!"

"Well why not? You never told me anything about not _trusting_ him, so how do expect me to know these things!"

"You never asked!"

"Since when do I have to _ask_ you to tell me things! Aren't we friends? Don't friends, you know, _tell_ each other stuff?"

"Same goes for you! You don't tell me anything either!"

"Well you've been ignoring me so much, it's been hard to even say hello anymore!"

"Well you're here now!"

"So then why can't you just tell me why you intend on making his life so miserable?"

"Because he called me a _fake_!"

And just like that, Marik threw a nasty slap to Ryou's face, leaving both boys' speechless for a good few moments to catch a breath. The blonde sighed, suddenly getting some kind of grip on the whole situation.

"I just… thought, you, of all people… would understand." His tone was slow and sobbish, making Ryou's heart finally sink. "Everyone's always been telling me how fake I look. How girly I dress… it was just the last straw, you know? Like, I just snapped, and… I just don't know anymore."

The blonde's face disappeared into his hands, probably embarrassed at the moment. Ryou stared in awe. Since when was Bakura one to call people names, like Marik had just proclaimed? Huh, whatever. Apparently it happened, so let's just move on from there.

"Marik, can I ask you something?" The albino began, startling the other teen. Said boy didn't give an answer to his friend, but Ryou wasn't exactly looking for that right now. "You hate Zeke, just because he called you a bad name, right?"

The blonde didn't respond.

Ryou continued anyway. "Doesn't that just sound so stupid? Why would you hate a person over something they called you? It's childish, really." The speaking teen's eyes traveled down to his feet. "If you're going to hate something, hate the word or action, not the person."

And after a moment of deafening silence, Ryou turned around and walked away, leaving the game he loathed. Not Marik, though. Just the game.

o.O.o

As if this morning couldn't get any worse.

The whole school was panicking, boys and girls screaming for their lives, teachers acting as calm as they could be, almost everyone was running in the opposite direction of that dreaded sound.

Gun shot, after gun shot.

Lungs dry and heart pounding, Ryou Bakura raced through the halls of Domino, following the sound of that gun. He knew too well who it was; he just wasn't sure if he believed it till he saw it for himself.

It felt like a ghost town now. The school felt so abandoned, the only exception being a few students, running for their lives. Gods, was he really this stupid? What if that person, may he know who it was or not, shot him, killed him in cold blood?

Well then he better start saying his prayers.

Nearly jumping out of his skin as a terrified squeal filled the empty halls, Ryou glanced in every direction, looking for that person. Why? Because that squeal belonged to his best friend.

"_Marik!?_" Ryou screamed, voiced echoing off the walls, eyes suddenly stinging with frightened tears.

"Help–!"

Yea, that was Marik alright.

Heart ready to explode, the albino turned the corner of the intersection he was stopped at, and ran like his feet were on fire.

"Marik, where are you!?" the teen shouted, trying to follow any sound, whether it be a plea for help or a gun shot.

Soon enough, Ryou had heard plenty of each, wandering every hallway there was in the school's plan. The sounds got louder as he neared certain placed, dying back down again, and then picking back up.

The albino's head was spinning out of control, scarred and lost as the scenery around him began to change, altering its appearance just to mess his thought up even more.

He never ever would have guessed that the sound of a gun could make him so happy.

The sound was so close, he thought he was shot himself. But thankfully, that wasn't the case. Cautiously making his way down the hall, Ryou came across the bathrooms, in which he heard faint struggles coming from.

Eyes wide and body shaking, the terrified boy snaked himself into the entrance, and the sigh he saw was enough to stop his heart from its intense pounding.

There was Bakura, a shot hun in his hand, and a gaged Marik in the other.

Ryou covered his mouth with his hands to prevent himself from screaming as the oldest in the room turned to face the other.

Bakura's face was a complete wreck; dark circles under his blood-shot eyes, hair untamed and skin as pale as well… Ryou's was.

"Hello, Ryou," Bakura greeted in a rather happy tone, his face showing no signs of that emotion though.

Said boy's eyes darted down at the terrified blonde, who was frozen stiff in the arms of his possible cause of death.

"Bakura…" the albino whispered through his now open lips, tone easy and quiet. "Why are you doing this…?"

Said man's face dragged, even more than it already was. "Well…" Bakura began, momentarily staring down at the teen he held captive. "…I just wanted to give Marik his birthday present."

Both boys' furrowed their brows in fear, Marik muffling something through his gag, but neither of the two albinos' knew what he was trying to say.

"But I wanted to ask you, something first," Bakura said, steadily aiming the shot gun towards Ryou, who staggered backwards, suddenly noticing how simple his life decision was now.

"It's okay," The oldest of the three cooed. "I haven't shot anyone… and I'm not going to start yet."

Ryou's heart clenched on the word.

_Yet._

"I just want to know… will we be friends, in heaven?"

The teen's eyes began to water.

"Bakura… I'll always be your friend… not matter what."

Said man smiled politely, eyelids fluttering to a close.

"That's… really nice… Ryou."

Even slower than last time, Bakura's arm pulled back, aiming the gun at…

_Himself._

"Marik said, he thinks Zeke should die."

Ryou started crying.

"And Ryou said I was Zeke."

"Bakura,_ stop!_"

"Happy Birthday, Marik."

Ryou didn't feel like he'd pulled the trigger.

He felt like he'd put the bullet through his own heart instead.

All time stood still while Bakura Touzokuou's hand fell limp, letting the gun fall to the bathroom floor while his body did the same.

"_No!_"

Ryou would not allow his friend to fall down. That's what friends where for right… picking each other up when they fall down…?

Then why did Ryou fall with him…?

Vision now blurry with tears, Ryou cradled the dying, if not dead, Bakura in his arms, brushing away the strands of snow white hair out of the crimson splattered across the left side of his friends emotionless face. His ear was completely destroyed, bleeding severely with layers of skin ripped from its normal place.

It was a horrid thing to look at, but Ryou didn't care. The boy cried and cried, tears intermixing with Bakura's blood.

Oh gods…

If only Ryou would have said something, anything… this could have been prevented.

But it's not entirely Ryou Bakura's fault.

If it weren't for Marik being so stubborn, maybe there never even would have been a Zeke to begin with.

Malik and Yugi too. They could've done the sensual thing and stopped Marik in his tracks, not supported him in the game.

Even Bakura… as inappropriate as it sounds, it was his fault too. He could have talked this out with Marik, Ryou, anybody…

But that's just the game of life.

You never know which way it's goanna turn out.

After minutes of Ryou sobbing unconditionally, Marik had finally crawled over to his friends, sitting on the other side of Bakura. The blonde took the limp hand into his, holding it tight. Ryou watched.

"Me… too," he breathed, "I'll be your friend too."

And after those few words, Marik Ishtar started to cry along with Ryou Bakura, all until a group of people that looked like they were from the swat team or something came in, and took the lifeless corpse from the teen's hands, paramedic's soon following behind.

o.O.o

Both boys' where helped outside of the school, each looking like they'd just been to hell and back with a few drops of blood here and there and their faces as tear-ridden as they could be. Their walking pace was slow, and once seated inside one of the three or four ambulances in the school's parking lot, were as still as statues.

"Marik?" the albino asked with his voice as dead as night.

Said boy kept his eyes upon his shoes. "Yea?"

"What I said about hating, back then…"

"Mhm?"

"Well… it's still the same circumstances. I only hate how you treated…him… not you as a person."

"I know."

"And Marik?"

"Yes?"

"You do know that… what happened today… isn't just my fault, or yours but… it's all of ours."

"Yea. I kind of figured after what you said after this morning… I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm sorry too."

"We still friends?"

"Yea. Best friends."

"And Z– I mean… Bakura too."

"Yea… just like it should be."

After sealing the conversation with a meaningful hug, noting more was said between the two friends that day.

Still, what can you do. What's done has been done, and the experiences that Marik and Ryou have gone through will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

But what they do with that experience is all up to them, their common sense and what they believe in.

That's why you really can only blame an action, and not a person. You see, all people are human, and that's what makes us similar, it's what we believe in and do and say and act like is what makes us different.

So next time, blame the action or word, not the person.

Now, what are you going to do? You've read this story, learned the lesson, and now what? What are you going to do with these experiences?

The choice, my friend, is all up to you.

* * *

OD: I.. I... i just... i just killed... I JUST KILLED MY FAVORITE CHARACTER! Well, second favorite... lol, but still. I feel rally bad for him. And Ryou. And Marik... i feel bad for everyone... and myself, because i'm probably going to get alot of hate reveiws, like "YOU KILLED BAKURA! YOU MONSTER!" and all that shiz, so... yea. But please, thank you all for being awesome readers and reveiwers, and such. Hugs to you all! And a HUGE thanks to FanimeGirl4Ever for being the best friend a girl could ever have... cookies on tuesday :D And as a last little note, i'd like to take the time to point out that this story was based on personal experienced, but not all of it is true. Ex: the shooting, the raping. But almost everything else was based on true event, they where just personal. I hope you guys learned somthing from this... so yea. thank you all so much! Love you guys!Peace!

Ps: To those of you following this story, i'll have a chapter 10 up, but that will only contain what i like to call "book credits" so yea. i'll be doing that with Broken as well... thanks!

**Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.**


	10. Chapter 10

Credits:

Author: 

Oki Denshi

Editor: 

Oki Denshi/ FanimeGirl4Ever

Inspiration: 

Personal Experiences/Imagination

Inspirational Songs: 

How to Save a Life by _The Fray_, Topics by _Nevertheless_, Hero by _SuperChick_, Pumped up Kicks by _Forster the People_

Special Thanks: 

All my original and potential reviewers, and also FanimeGirl4Ever

~OkiDenshi


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